Do You Hate Me?
by NessaMoon
Summary: When Hinata and Naruto are kidnapped by Cloud Ninja; certain secrets come out, causing both young ninja to think the worse of the other. Could Naruto really hate Hinata? Or could Hinata hate Naruto?
1. Chapter 1

This is one of the first NaruHina fic I ever wrote. The writing in this I see as much better than most of my stuff, likely because I wrote the majority of it while on vacation with no internet. Not to mention, it's been written over two years and I've gone and improved/rewritten some things. At least I think. I worry too much. Given how long this is (33 pages!); I've separated it into three parts.

This is completely AU. Not only because Tsunade's Hokage and Sasuke still around but also because of the situation in Hidden Cloud. At the time I wrote this, I hadn't finished with the original series and didn't know the details of Sasuke's departure, I really wanted to write him. Of course, now everything I've written in here about the Village Hidden in the Clouds is wrong, hence why it's declared an AU.

**Title:** Do You Hate Me?  
**Genre:** Drama, Angst, AU  
**Timeline:** Post-Tsunade Arc  
**Summary:** When Hinata and Naruto are kidnapped by Cloud Ninja; certain secrets come out, causing both young ninja to think the worse of the other. Could Naruto really hate Hinata? Or could Hinata hate Naruto?  
**Pairings:** Naruto/Hinata  
**Rating:** G

* * *

"So that is the Hyuuga Heir?" said a woman hiding in the trees, her hazel eyes covered by her binoculars. Her black hair up in a painful looking bun, the woman wore the typical garments of a Ninja, a dark grey shirt and pants with a black vest. Around her head she wore a headband with the Hidden Cloud Village symbol.

"Yes, that girl with the dark blue hair. The white eyes. The Byakugan." Her male companion stood on the branch next to her, also wearing dark grey clothing, black vest and a Cloud Headband. His blond hair currently hidden by a hood, his dark green eyes stared at the Leaf Genin lounging around outside.

"How do you propose we get her?" asked another male, sitting on the branch above them. He was a bit shorter than the other two, younger than the adult Jonin, yet his wild blackish-brown eyes gave off a reckless nature as did the long crescent scar around his right eye. Wearing the same as his companions, his long spiky black hair was pulled into a ponytail, with one strand in front of his face.

"We clearly can't take her from her home," commented the older ninja. "That happened last time and failed. We need to lure her to us."

The younger man smirked. "I would like to see you try, Inazuma. I don't believe that sort of thing is your strong point."

The woman rolled her eyes at the comment and continued observing their target. Inazuma snorted. "And who has a scar on his face due to his recklessness in escaping the Cloud Village, Hatsu?"

A growl from Hatsu revealed the words touched a sore spot; however, a cough from the female ninja curved the two men's budding fight. "Enough, you two," she said, firmly. "There is a way to get this girl without revealing ourselves to the rest of the village."

She put her binoculars away as her companions glared at her. Hatsu's eyes clouded. "And how is that, Minariko?" he hissed.

The woman grinned. "If you were watching instead of fighting, you would have seen her blush madly and become near faint whenever a certain blond boy comes near." She moved the leaves, carefully so not to give up her position, to show the Hyuuga girl hiding behind a single tree watching a blond boy about her age. As Minariko had said, the girl shook behind her hiding place, her face bright red. When the boy discovered her, coming close up to her, she backed up quickly, clearly nervous and so much so that she lost her footing and fell to the ground.

Inazuma shook his head. That was the Hyuuga heir? He considered himself fortune they were only after her bloodline and not the girl's abilities. Otherwise, she would be useless.

Next to him, Minariko grinned, a predatory gaze flashed in her eyes. "Let's watch them for a couple of days. Then all we have to do is to capture that boy and we have the Byakuugan."

------------

Uzumaki Naruto yawned as he reached into his fridge for a new pack of ramen. It was nearing midnight and he had had a long training session with his sensei, Kakashi and teammates, Sakura and Sasuke. The jonin had given them extra nighttime training so Naruto had gotten home very late. Instead of eating at his favorite ramen bar, he would have to eat some of his own.

Even worse, Kakashi wanted them at the training fields in the morning. In his words, a ninja "has to be prepared to get up at any hour of the day. Trust me; you'll thank me for this later."

_Ha! _thought Naruto bitterly as he waited for the ramen to be ready, _He should talk. As if he'll even be on time! Maybe I should just sleep in…_

His stomach grumbled, reminding him of what he was doing. He picked up his pack of now heated pork ramen and headed to the table. Yawning, he stretched in his seat and untied his Shinobi headband. He laid it on the table, intending to fold it and place it on his dresser when he finished. He put it on the far end of the table so he could eat without worrying about any ramen dripping on it. He was very proud of his headband.

Opening up his ramen and picking up his chopsticks, he said, "Itadakimasu" and started to devour the noodles.

He was halfway through it when he realized something was odd. His ramen tasted funny. Stopping for a moment, he looked at the box, but it had not expired. _Hmm? I wonder why…uh…_

"Uh…" A sick feeling came over Naruto. He pushed away from his table, the ramen spilling on the table and dripping to the floor, and wobbled to the wall. Coughing, he slid down, his eyes barely open and everything in front of him blurry. "Uh…"

His eyes closed slowly, but he forced them to open as he clutched his stomach, still coughing. In front of him stood someone that had not been there before. Someone who should not have been in his apartment. He tried to look up, but only caught a grinning face of black before finally passing out.

------------

Clad in her normal gray jacket, blue pants and black shirt with her headband around her neck, Hinata sat on the swing in front of the Ninja Academy, tapping her fingers in a nervous gesture. She had to meet her team around nine-thirty and managed to finish her training early today. Normally, she came here in the morning after her training because Naruto would walk past going to his training ground. She usually just managed to catch him. She would not do or say anything; just hide behind the tree until he left. And then she would slide down to the ground wondering why she could not say anything. Why she could not tell Naruto about her feelings for him.

Ever since the Chuunin exams, her feelings for him had increased. She had been surprised when he had admitted his frustration at failing. So she told him what she really thought of him; that he was a proud failure and symbol of true strength because he always got back up again when he did fail. That he was strong person because of that.

And then he had said he liked people like her…

The mere thought of that caused her to blush bright red and she hid her face in her hands. _Calm down,_ she thought, _I can't let Naruto-kun see me like this! Well, if he could see me…since I hide, he can't, but…_

"Hey! Hinata!" She jumped about a foot in the air at the voice. _Oh, no!_ she thought frantically, _he saw me! I – I can't hide!_ She turned around to see Naruto, dressed in his orange and blue jumpsuit, grinning at her and immediately lowered her head, her cheeks already slightly red, and tapping her fingers together.

"Umm…Hh – i, Naruto-…kun" she muttered.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be headed to your team or something?" he asked.

Hinata shook her head. "N – no… Kurenai-sensei told us to me – et her at nine-thirty."

"Ah. Then how come you're up this early?"

Hinata felt her heart pound as he continued questioning her. They had had only two real talks before: the Chuunin written exam and the one before his match with Neji. She was still trying to get used to this and wanting to tell him how she felt added to her nervousness.

"Ano…I train in the morning," she said softly, her head down.

"Okay." He smiled and Hinata felt herself grow faint. This was too much…too much for her to handle. But before her body could fall to the ground, he asked her, "Do you want to go get some ramen? I mean, you must be hungry having finished training, right? You should get something to eat before meeting your team."

Hinata blushed more. Going to eat ramen? With Naruto? What had gotten into him? He never had talked to her this much before nor invite her to do anything with him. Could this really be real? She stole a glance upwards, but nothing seemed out of place: he stood before her grinning with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head, as if he had just pulled some prank back when they were academy students. "Ano? Naruto-kun?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Hmm?"

"Wh – hay are you doing this?"

Suddenly, he frowned. He put his hand on her shoulder, her heart already beating a good deal faster than before began to pulsate into a near hum. _Naruto-kun…he's touching me…Naruto-kun's touching me! This close…_

"I thought you could use some food. You look kind of faint and your face is all red. If you don't want to go, that's okay, but shouldn't you take a break then? You can't train well if you're sick," he said, his bright blue eyes concerned.

At first, she stared and then finally, a small giggle came out. It was funny seeing Naruto all serious, hardly an appearance that suited him, but it was still a Naruto trait. Regardless of what other people thought, Naruto could be serious when he wanted to be. And he was concerned for her. That made her heart flutter. No, nothing was wrong. This was the same Naruto all right. "No, I mean yes. I think I should take a break, get some food, too."

"Great! Ramen?" At her nod, Naruto took her hand, which made Hinata blush bright red, and led her across the school yard.

------------

Haruno Sakura, dressed in a red and white dress with the sides parted, blue ankle length pants and her Leaf Headband on her head, walked down the road to her training session with her team. The villagers were already out, going to their respective jobs and such just as they normally would. Sakura could hardly wait to get to the field where Kakashi-sensei and, most of all, Sasuke waited. And Naruto would be there, too.

She still wore a smile on her face, through. Even through she had lost most of the dislike for Naruto, he was still not her favorite person, that was owned by Sasuke, of course, however, he earned her respect her due to his skills in their Land of Waves mission and the recent Chuunin exams. She now considered him a friend and a loyal one at that.

_ "Those who do not care for and support their fellows are even lower than that!" _Kakashi-sensei had told them that when they graduated. Teamwork was very important. And Sakura was determined to abide by that ideal. It would hardly do if the team fell apart.

Thinking of that, Sakura sighed. Of course, while she knew teamwork was needed, sometimes, it felt like her teammates did not. Naruto and Sasuke were often yelling and completing against each other over something. And most of the time, it ended up ruining their mission.

Again, Sakura sighed. No, it was often Naruto who ruining their missions.

_Why did I change my mind on him again…?_ she wondered.

She approached a fork in the road and turned left. The other road led to the Ninja Academy; she could almost see it, but the trees from the woods obstructed a good portion of it.

Just as a group of people passed her on the way to the village, Sakura thought she spotted a patch of spiky blond hair enter the woods. She stopped and the crowd moved on, however, all Sakura saw was Hyuuga Hinata entering the woods by herself.

Shrugging, she walked on to the bridge. Maybe she was imagining things, thinking she saw Naruto? Naruto may be dense, but he would never be late for a training session.

------------

"It's a shortcut," said Naruto, explaining his reason for entering the woods outside of the Ninja Academy.

Hinata was not sure about that. She always thought the road was easier to get to the village. Then again, Naruto did things differently from most. Maybe this would be easier?

Naruto pulled her into a small clearing and Hinata thought she heard something. It was a mumble; it sounded as if someone had something in their mouth. "Wait! Naruto-kun?"

He stopped, a curious expression drifting over his face. He let go of her hand and stared at her. "What is it?"

Hinata stared in the direction of where she heard the sound. "I – I thought I heard some – thing…" Her face burned red; embarrassed she was making him wait. Instead, she focused on the brush in front of her. She craned her neck to see over it and thought she saw movement. Hesitantly, because she feared what Naruto would think, she entered the brush to see what was going on.

"Hinata?" she heard Naruto say and hesitated again, thinking of going back and heading to the ramen bar. Surely whatever was going here was not that important; it was not like a ninja was in danger or something else of dire circumstance, right? However, before she could make up her mind, she took one more step forward and spied spiky blond hair, very familiar spiky blond hair.

Blinking, Hinata looked back at the Naruto behind her, walking into the brush. Then she took another step and gasped.

Tied to a tree and struggling frantically with a furious expression on his face was Naruto! His mouth was taped up, the source of the mumbling she heard. Hinata looked back again at the Naruto behind her, but this time a very strange look was on his face. A smirk, a very malevolent smirk and very unlike the Naruto she knew. This Naruto took out a kunai and pointed it at her. "Walk forward," he said.

Terrified and confused, Hinata timidly stepped out of the brush, standing in front of the Naruto tied to the tree. As she did so, two people dropped out of the tree, a man and a woman.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said the woman, grinning broadly. Hinata shuddered as she noticed the cloud symbol on their ninja headband. These people were from the Hidden Cloud Village, the same village that had nearly kidnapped her when she was three.

The Naruto who lead her here walked into her view, still smiling malevolently, and a pop and ninja smoke later, revealed a dark haired ninja with a cloud headband and a large scar running around his eye.

_It was a trick...and I fell for it…_ Hinata felt her face burn with shame at the thought. These Cloud Ninja must have been spying on her for days and realized she liked Naruto. She never thought her feelings would have been obvious, but clearly they must have if they knew she would go with him if he asked.

How could she have been so stupid to think Naruto would have invited her to eat somewhere? Or even concerned for her health? She felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Stupid girl," remarked the scarred ninja. He put his free hand on her hand, kunai still pointing at her, and forced her to the ground. She whimpered, but that only made him laugh. "And you call yourself a ninja!"

"Hatsu!" scowled the woman. "This is hardly the time." In front of her, Naruto's feet struggled from the bonds.

"But it's so much fun to crush them!" sneered Hatsu in a cheery, cruel voice. The ninja pushed Hinata closer to Naruto and the girl squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the person she admired and loved so much look at her with dislike and disappointment for being so foolish.

"Boy! Don't you see? This girl's feelings for you clouded her so much she was so easy to capture," said Hatsu, the words causing to Hinata to shiver in humiliation. "It was her love for you that caused her to be capture. The reason she blushes and faints so much is because she's _in love_ with you." He laughed. Hinata felt hot tears trying to escape, but she held them in because she did not want to further disgrace herself.

"All right," spoke up the other male. "That's enough. We have what we came here for."

She felt them tie up her hands and tape her mouth, but she hardly cared nor struggled as they did so.

After being tricked like she had been, she just wanted to die.

------------

Sakura and Sasuke stood on the bridge where they normally met Kakashi-sensei, Sakura's anger growing each minute. Her anger was even worse than normal because not only was Kakashi-sensei late this time, but so was Naruto.

While she stood silently, an imaginary black and white girl that looked just like her with the kanji on her forehead dubbing her Inner Sakura ranted on and on about the two late ninja. _What in blazes are they doing?? When I get a hold of the two of them, I'm going to do this…_ She slammed two dolls that looked remarkably like Kakashi and Naruto into a wall. _And this…_ She tore the heads off._ And that!_ She set fire to the remains and then threw them in the air. _Yeah, that'll teach them!_

Sasuke, wearing his standard black pants and blue shirt with its high collar and Uchiha symbol on the back as well as his Leaf Headband tied around his head, hardly appeared different, the scowl he normally wore deepening every thirty minutes just like it always did when Kakashi-sensei was late. The only difference in this normal waiting for their teacher was Naruto complaining.

A pop sounded and ninja smoke appeared at the foot of the bridge. When it cleared, there stood Hatake Kakashi, their silver haired jonin teacher. He wore black pants and shirt with a dark green vest. His headband was worn over his right eye, hiding the fact that he possessed a Sharingan eye, a nearly extinct Kekkai Genkai normally found in the slaughtered Uchiha clan of which Sasuke was the only survivor.

As usual, Kakashi raised his hand in greeting and 'smiled,' which, since he wore a mask over the lower portion of his face, only consisted of his left eye closing. "Sorry, guys, there was a fire at my apartment this morning."

Sakura could hardly contain herself; Inner Sakura was already setting fire to another Kakashi doll. "Liar! I passed the Konoha fire department on my way here!"

"Well, that's the reason why I was late; I had to put the fire out myself!"

Sasuke groaned and muttered, "Pathetic."

Sakura debated with herself whether or not to let this go when Kakashi interrupted, "Wait…where's Naruto?"

"He's late, too," growled Sakura.

The jonin appeared worried. "That's not like Naruto, he's not normally this late, is he?"

"No," muttered Sasuke, a frown replacing the scowl. "Even if he's plotting something, that loser doesn't arrive this late." He eyed their teacher. "You think something's happened to him?"

At that, Sakura's anger drained away, concern for Naruto replacing it. Naruto may be annoying at times, but that did not mean she wanted something to happen to him. "What should we do then? Go check his apartment?" she asked.

Both Sasuke and Kakashi nodded their heads and with a speed that could not be detected by normal eyes, the three of them were gone, heading to Naruto's apartment.

------------

He had no idea how long he had been struggling against his bonds. The Cloud Shinobi had taken him and Hinata to yet another clearing in the woods. According to the three ninja, they would hide there until nightfall and then they would get away. Naruto had thought this was a bad idea because surely their teams would know they were missing.

However, it appeared the kidnappers had this thought out because they said, waiting would give any search parties time to die down and the cover of darkness would conceal them. At that point, things did not look to good for Naruto because Inazuma had begun to ponder how and where they were going to dispose of him after they left.

The laughter of Hatsu rang in his ears; he shook in anger and the need to show him up rose once again. In spite of this, Naruto could not do much of anything at the moment.

Whatever drug the Cloud Shinobi gave him restricted access to his chakra. He also could not form the hand sign he needed for his favorite jutsu, Kage Bunshin. It had worried his captors when the drug began to wear off after a couple of hours; it was supposed to keep him down for 72 hours. _At least I got something on them,_ reflected Naruto with a small laugh.

He figured he only had enough chakra for one jutsu and only the smaller ones. There was one problem with his plan: Hinata.

Hinata had her back to him and refused to turn to him when he tried, a silent effort, but he had hoped she heard him try, to get her attention. Ever so often, she shook; Naruto figured she was upset. He had no idea she liked him that way. How was he supposed to know that all that blushing and fainting was because she liked him?

He remembered how shy, but nice she had been during the Chuunin exam. She had offered to let him cheat off her test and gave him some medicine after his fight with her own teammate, Kiba. He recalled how she had stood up to her cousin, Neji, in her fight with him and how she had boosted Naruto's confidence a month later when he ended up fighting Neji.

His eyelids drooped. Hinata had been so nice and then this had to happen.

Regardless, none of his ideas would work without Hinata's help. His best idea involved the Henge jutsu, but, since he could not transform out of his bonds, without Hinata, the ninja would just grab her and leave, thinking Naruto was running for help.

His other idea involved the Kawarimi jutsu, but he was afraid any movement would alert Hatsu guarding them. His blood began to boil just thinking of the pain he caused Hinata. He knew he could take him, but if Hinata was still feeling like this while they battled, she could be hurt.

_Come on, Hinata! Snap out of it!_

Footsteps approached and Naruto turned his head as best as he could to glare at the Shinobi. However, Inazuma ignored him and took out a kunai. Pulling Naruto up, he cut him deeply across his cheek.

The wound burned and if Naruto could, he would have kicked Inazuma. Instead, he glared in contempt at his captors.

The three ninja's eyes widened in shock. "Inazuma…" whispered Minariko. "It's healing. It's true. This is him…"

Slowly, Inazuma nodded. "So it would appear. I'm surprised they allowed him to be this untrained. Our Junchuuriki is the one of the best in the village."

Hatsu, who had looked very confused, but not at all concerned, at their actions, took in a deep breath. "A Junchuuriki? This boy is a Junchuuriki, Minariko?"

She nodded. "Yes. Inazuma and I discussed it and it's the only thing we can think of that would explain why he woke up so quickly. I had heard Konoha was attacked by Kyuubi 13 years ago, but I never thought this boy would be the one who held it. That information became forbidden after the attack."

At the mention of the Nine-Tails, Naruto paled. Hinata…she had to have heard them, she knew now… Inazuma dropped him to the ground, smirking. "I've heard rumors of some ninja wanting to get their hands on the Junchuuriki. If we can find these ninja, I bet they'll pay us quite handsomely for you." Then he shrugged as if it was not really that important. "But if we can't…" He smirked again and mimicked slicing his throat.

Naruto had no idea what a Junchuuriki was, but it had to have something to do with him being the container of the fox. And the idea that there was a proper name for people like him did not appeal to him at all. However, his eyes widened when Inazuma mentioned ninja searching for people like him. _That has to be Akatsuki! _The two men who wanted him to come with them when he and Jiraiya searched for Tsunade sprang to mind. Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's brother and his partner, who appeared very fish-like. These Cloud Nin would hand him over to them? Despite the bonds, Naruto felt his body tremble slightly.

Hatsu began to laugh in malice. He walked over to Hinata and turned her over. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the hate she must possess for the one who held the Kyuubi within him. Just like all the other villagers hated him…

"Look girl, your boyfriend has a demon within him. Did you know that? No? You did not?" He laughed again, he sounded amused and Naruto felt like launching himself at the man at that moment. "Well, now you know, not like it's going to of any help now since you'll both soon be dead."

"Hatsu!" growled Minariko. "Keep it down! People walk past this forest, you know!"

"Keep a good eye on this boy, Hatsu. We don't know what he's capable now," remarked Inazuma sternly.

In response, he groaned at the order. "Oh, come on! This boy isn't going to do anything! He hasn't yet and look at him tremble." Naruto forced himself to stop trembling. "He won't do anything."

"I don't care," stated Inazuma, firmly. "Watch him. Minariko and I will keep an eye on the outskirts."

Two sets of feet left the small clearing and seconds later, another set followed, clearly Hatsu because it sounded as if he were dragging his feet.

And then, the two were alone.

* * *

I really hope no one hates me for what I did to Hinata! :( At the time, I liked to go overboard on both villains and characters' reaction. Hatsu is a good example of this. I'm still not entirely sure about my characterization. It looks okay to me right now, but it's something I always worry about. Considering this fic was the first time I ever seriously tried to write NaruHina, the worry explodes more than normal.

I'll try to post the second half next week! That is if I can stop tinkering with it. I keep doing that. ^^;; Happy New Year! ^_^

Thanks for reading - NessaMoon


	2. Chapter 2

Note to self: upload file well night before so if I get busy, I can update. Sorry this is so late. Well, this is the second part of the fic. Just one more after this. ^_^ I'm very glad people like this so far (hope I don't lose my audience now!).

Yes, Hatsu has a very twisted mind as you'll see in this part. Cold and takes quite a lot of pleasure in the suffering of his victims. Inazuma and Minariko are more professional. Actually, you'll see a softer side to Minariko here! Meanwhile, Team 7 investigates Naruto's apartment and learn quite a bit from it while Naruto is still scared to face Hinata. Can the two of them manage to get out of this mess?

And I hope this is all believable...well, as believable as the Naruto manga/world can be!

**Title:** Do You Hate Me?  
**Genre:** Drama, Angst, AU  
**Timeline:** Post-Tsunade Arc  
**Summary:** When Hinata and Naruto are kidnapped by Cloud Ninja; certain secrets come out, causing both young ninja to think the worse of the other. Could Naruto really hate Hinata? Or could Hinata hate Naruto?  
**Pairings:** Naruto/Hinata  
**Rating:** G

* * *

Sakura glanced around Naruto's apartment. The door had been unlocked, which surprised the three ninja investigating. Everything else, however, appeared the same, at least as far as Sakura could tell. The room was surprising clean, better than she thought considering this was Naruto's apartment.

In the kitchen, the only oddity was a cup of instant ramen spilled over on the table, dry, but it clearly had been dripping to the floor. The chair was pulled out as if Naruto had gotten up for something and his headband lay on the table.

Kakashi-sensei turned in a circle, giving everything in the room a once over. He picked up the spilled ramen container and turned it in his hand. Putting it down, he stepped closer to the wall and spun around in the direction of the bedroom.

After a moment, he turned to his two students. "Well, do you two have anything to say?"

Sakura could not think of anything. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, but Sasuke looked their teacher straight in the eye, his face serious. "Something happened to Naruto."

Gawking at him, Sakura looked around the room more to see what she could have missed, but Kakashi-sensei just nodded his head. "What gave it away?"

Sasuke walked up to the table and picked up Naruto's headband. "When we're away on missions, Naruto would always fold his forehead protector and place it in one of the outer pockets of his pack. I would think he would take equal care of this at home as well."

"Very good, Sasuke."

Something dawned on Sakura. It really did not matter if Naruto was neat or not. If there was one thing she was sure he would never leave in a mess, it would be ramen. After all, he consumed how many bowls clean at Ichiraku? "His ramen! Naruto wouldn't leave his ramen spilled like that."

Kakashi-sensei tilted his head and picked up the ramen cup. "It appeared he knocked it over while getting up. You can't see it right off, but a close look reveals a tiny hole in it."

Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened. "Naruto was poisoned?" exclaimed Sasuke, unable to believe in the possibility.

But Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "I doubt it. If he were poisoned, then we would have found him here. No one would make an effort to move him if they killed him by poison…" He trailed off, but then pointed to the chair. "It appears Naruto ate at least half of the ramen and then realized he was being drugged. He pushed out of his chair and knocked over the cup. I suppose he collapsed soon afterwards if he consumed enough."

"So what do we do now?" asked Sakura. "We don't know when he was drugged; it would have happened anytime between when he left training yesterday and this morning. They could be anywhere."

However, Sasuke shook his head. "Actually, we do have a timeline…sort of." He waved his hand over the dried ramen. "If Naruto had been kidnapped late in the morning, then the ramen wouldn't be this dry."

Kakashi-sensei nodded in agreement. "Which narrows it down to when he left training to early morning, however, I'm willing to bet he was taken late last night in order to take advantage of the darkness."

Sasuke made a fist with his hand and growled. "So that means they've gotten nearly a half a day's head start. How are we going to find them?"

A grin appeared on Sakura's face as an idea came to her. "Kiba and Akamaru! Couldn't they help us?"

Kakashi nodded. "Good idea, Sakura. Let's go find Team 8."

------------

It was with great surprise that Team 7 found Team 8 missing a member as well. Kurenai explained to Kakashi that Hinata had been late for training and they were tracking her with Akamaru as well. Kiba and Shino were shocked to learn Naruto was missing as well.

"Is it possible the disappearances are connected?" commented Shino.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "I can't see how. Naruto's definitely looked fishy, but if we don't even have a place to start with Hinata... And what connection is there between the two?"

However, for Kakashi, one look at Kurenai told him that there was a connection. Since she did not volunteer her thoughts, Kakashi did not ask. He would ask later, when the genin were away since clearly it was not something she had told them.

As he thought this, Kiba filled in Sasuke and Sakura on their search of Hinata, how they started at the Hyuuga compound and went from there. "Akamaru was leading us toward the ninja academy," he finished.

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Sakura, surprising everyone. "I remember I saw Hinata on my way to the bridge! And before that, I thought, and I say thought because a crowd of people got in my way, I saw blond hair right before that."

"Naruto?" inquired Shino.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I thought it was, but since I couldn't tell, I don't know."

"Well, it's a place to start," said Kurenai.

------------

Uncertain at what he would find, Naruto opened his eyes.

Hinata had not turned her back on him again. Instead, she stared at him with…? What was it? It was not hate, he knew all too well what hate looked like. No, this was something else. Something different…

Naruto sighed, very difficult to do since he was taped up. At the very least, she could see him. He stared Hinata, hoping she understood him what he was trying to say. Then he closed his eyes and focused his chakra on the simple jutsu he had learned at the academy.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto had disappeared. In his place, the rope that bound his hands remained tied. It looked as if Naruto had just slipped out.

It was a simple plan; if they transformed into the rope, it would look like they slipped out and ran away. When Hatsu came around to check on them, he would only see the rope and, hopefully, get angry. At that point, Naruto or Hinata would take advantage of whatever Hatsu did, whether it be leaving them alone to warn the others or leaving a weapon for them to use to cut themselves free.

Hinata's white eyes widened, but she understood what she had to do. Focusing on her chakra as well, she, too, transformed into the rope used to tie her hands together.

------------

Hatsu had not had this much fun since he and the others fought their way out of Cloud. Well, at least he had been having fun. He took great pleasure in tormenting his opponents, be they able to fight or prisoners. However, this assignment, watching over two children, was uninteresting.

He was supposed to wait for Minariko and Inazuma to come back from watching the outskirts of the forest for possible Konoha Nin. If any came nearby, they would give a signal and likely hide. That was what he was supposed to do, anyway. Unlike his two companions, he would prefer a fight between him and a couple of Leaf. This waiting around bored him greatly.

He really did not see the need in keeping a close eye on the Junchuuriki boy. The drug was still keeping his chakra down so he could not perform any high level jutsu or access the fox's chakra, if he even knew how. At least, the boy's relationship with the fox explained why he regain consciousness so quick.

Swinging his kunai on his finger, he decided to pay the two children a visit, just to amuse himself so he would not die of boredom. He would likely taunt the girl more. And the boy as well, given how pale he went when they tested him to see if he really did contain the Nine-Tails. Mocking people was such fun.

Entering the clearing where the two lay tied up, Hatsu stopped swinging his weapon, grinning wickedly. But that grin faded when all he found were two pieces of tied rope.

"Wha…" He felt panic grip him as he stared at the rope, no Hyuuga heir or Junchuuriki in sight. "How did they get out?" He turned back to where he was supposed to stand guard, his knees shaking at what Inazuma would say when he found out. However, that fear quickly gave way to anger and Hatsu threw his kunai to the ground, growling his frustration at being tricked by two children.

What Hatsu did not see was the rope move to where the kunai was thrown. The ninja weapon sliced through the rope and in a flash, Naruto reappeared and moved behind the unknowing captor.

Before Hatsu could react, Naruto swung his leg and hit the ninja in the head. He fell to the ground, unconscious, while Naruto, grinning and very pleased with himself, rushed over to Hinata, who had already reversed the jutsu, and untied her.

"Ano…" muttered Hinata meekly. "Tha – thank you, Na – aruto-kun."

"No problem, Hinata. Let's get out of here."

Taking her hand, Hinata flinching at the contact, Naruto led her away from their imprisonment and the downed ninja.

------------

Kakashi and Kurenai fell behind their teams as they entered the woods outside of the ninja academy. Akamaru led the way with Kiba and Sasuke, the latter with his Sharingan active and alert for possible movement, following. Shino had ordered his insects to scan the area. Sakura hung back, resorting to the old-fashioned way of searching, glancing around, moving bushes and hoping she saw something.

Suddenly, Akamaru barked and Sasuke and Kiba stopped in a small clearing. "Akamaru says he smells Hinata right here with another person," explained Kiba. "The scent goes through this brush."

"Can he tell who the other person is?" asked Sasuke.

Kiba shook his head as he entered the brush with his dog. "No, he doesn't know who it is…hey!" Akamaru began to bark again, running up to a tree and placing two paws on it. "Naruto? Are you sure?"

Sasuke and Shino approached the pair. "What is it, Kiba?" asked Shino. "Does Akamaru smell Naruto?"

As Sakura and the teachers joined them, Kiba nodded. "Yeah, he smells him on this tree. And he smells two other people as well as Hinata and the person from over there."

"Hmm? So we have three strangers that Akamaru cannot identify and Naruto and Hinata meeting at his tree." mused Kakashi.

"What is going on?" asked Sakura. "Why would they bring Naruto here? And why Hinata?"

Shino tensed up. "Is it possible that these are ninja after Hinata's Byakuugan?"

"That doesn't explain why the loser was captured as well," said Sasuke.

Kurenai flinched at that, Kakashi noticed again. He was sure there was a connection now. Clearly, Naruto was used to lure Hinata, but why? Why Naruto and not one of Hinata's teammates? It was something Kakashi knew Kurenai was keeping to herself.

Suddenly, Shino turned around. "My insects are informing me that Naruto and Hinata are running right behind us!"

As one, the two teams turned, staring into the forest for their missing friends. A half mile out, Naruto ran out from behind a tree dragging Hinata behind him. Sakura shouted out to them, but they did not hear it because they continued running. Moments later, two ninja followed them and Kakashi caught the symbol on their headbands.

"Kumo Shinobi!" he told the others. Kurenai's red rimmed eyes widened. "Come on. We have to help them now."

------------

Naruto and Hinata had hidden in a tree when Minariko and Inazuma came running past. Once the two ninja passed, they had jumped out and ran for it, knowing it would only take seconds for the two captors to realize they were gone and begin chasing after them.

Sure enough, the two gave chase after the two genin. Naruto thought he heard Sakura call his and Hinata's name at some point, but could not be sure or in what direction. He could not stop to find out because then their captors would catch up.

So they kept running.

The sounds of a stream made its way to Naruto. He headed toward it, hoping they could jump across and get a good way ahead of Minariko and Inazuma. However, they reached a small cliff where a wide, raging river blocked their way. Naruto's heart fell. There was no way they could jump that.

"Naruto-kun," whispered Hinata in a worried voice, "We're trapped."

Turning around, Naruto pulled her behind him as Inazuma approached the area, frowning. "Now that your escape has ended, let's go back. We have no intention of harming you for this."

Naruto snorted. "You really think we're going to hand ourselves over just like that? You've got another thing coming!"

Minariko frowned. "You believe you can still escape?"

Naruto let a grin light up his face. "Yeah. Hinata! Jump!" He pushed her over the cliff as he jumped into the river. Hinata screamed as they both fell into the dangerous water.

The cold liquid pulled both genin under and Naurto kicked upwards to breath. He looked back at the cliff and cringed as he did so.

There, facing the two Kumo Ninja was his own sensei and a woman he recalled was Hinata's teacher. Right behind them, heading in the direction the river was taking Naruto and Hinata, were their teammates.

Naruto cursed as the water pulled him under again. _If I had just waited…_

------------

_Idiot!_ screamed Sasuke in his head as he watched Naruto and Hinata jump off the cliff into the water. Sure, Naruto may have not known they were coming, but that did not excuse such a stupid plan, jumping into a furious river.

Kakashi barked orders, not giving away any displeasure at Naruto's idea, "Sasuke! Sakura! Kiba! Shino! Go rescue Naruto and Hinata!"

Kurenai nodded her approval. "We'll take care of our guests!"

At the sound of their teachers' voices, the Cloud Shinobi turned around and entered battle stances. The four genin ran away from the battle, Sasuke leading the way to where Naruto and Hinata were being carried away by the raging river.

"How are we going to get them out?" shouted Kiba.

Sasuke processed the situation. There was no way anyone of them could get into the river to pull them out, the tide way too strong. At the same time, he did not see anything Naruto and Hinata could grab a hold of, at least nothing non-slippery. And walking on the water was out of the question, the rapids too intense to allow it. Throwing a line to them could work, a lot could go wrong there.

There was only one way. Reaching into his pack, Sasuke pulled out a rope. Tying one end to a kunai, he ran ahead past Naruto and Hinata. He threw the kunai and the rope across the river where it hit a tree.

The other three genin pulled on the rope, Sakura, Kiba and Shino in that order behind him, holding the rope so when one of them grabbed it, it would not fall.

Both Naruto and Hinata were having trouble keeping above the furious rapids. Naruto tried to swim toward Hinata, however, when they reached a small waterfall, the momentum sent him ahead of her. Sasuke heard him curse when he missed.

"Does Naruto see the rope?" asked Shino. "He'll miss it if he hasn't seen it."

"No, he hasn't," replied Kiba, sounding a mix of frustration and confusion. "He's too focused on getting Hinata."

"Hey!" shout Sasuke, struck by sudden inspiration. "Loser! Grab the robe!"

The insult had the reaction he had wanted. Naruto turned in the water, a furious expression on his face. He jumped up, grabbed the line and shook his fist at his rival, cursing him. "When I get out of here…" he shouted.

Sasuke smirked as Naruto ranted on. In the beginning, Sasuke had not thought much of the dead last who considered him a rival. However, over their missions and the Chuunin exam, Sasuke had to reevaluate that view. He considered Naruto as a rival now, someone he wanted to fight. The taunts Sasuke so often threw in Naruto's direction made him fight harder, it appeared. And with Naruto growing stronger, well, Sasuke had to get stronger as well, through he would never actually admit that.

Hinata began to approach the rope. Naruto held out his hand, yelling at her to grab it. However, just as she came up to him, the water pulled her under so she only brushed his fingertips and the current carried her away.

"Hinata!" screamed Naruto as the other genin watched in shock. To make matters worse, Naruto let go of the rope and began to swim after her.

"Naruto!" shrieked Sakura in disbelief as the others dropped the rope and ran after the two. "What are you doing?"

Sasuke pulled his kunai out of the tree and began to run after the others. He heard Naruto shout out, "I've got to get her!"

"Idiot!" he shouted. "We can get her! Why are you so stubborn?" However, Naruto ignored him this time and continued to swim with the current. To Sasuke's horror, he heard the distinctive sound of a huge waterfall up ahead. The others heard it, too, judging from the look on their faces.

They speed up, hoping to find another chance for getting the two out. Naruto had gotten a hold of Hinata by this time, clutching her side as if his life depended on it, and tried to swim in the opposite direction. However, they had come too close to the waterfall and Naruto could not swim against the current. They were being pulled toward the cascading falls.

"Here!" shouted Kiba and Sasuke threw his kunai at the tree closest to the river. They were right at the falls, it would be tricky for Naruto and Hinata to grab it, but if anyone could do it, Sasuke figured, it would be Naruto. Once again, the other four held the rope and waited for the two to come.

Naruto still had a hold of Hinata as they approached the edge of the waterfall. He reached out for the rope, but to the others' dismay, he could not get a hold of it; the current was too fast and he could not jump for it. It was too high up! The four genin tried to loosen the rope in time, but it was too late. Naruto and Hinata screamed as they went over the waterfall.

A black cloud buzzed by Sasuke. _Shino's_ _insects_, he realized dimly. He barely heard Sakura's sobs or Akamaru's howls next to him.

All he could do was stare into the mist at the bottom of the falls.

------------

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, gazed at the two genin teams standing before her. On one side was team 8, led by Yuhi Kurenai, but they were missing one member of their team. Hyuuga Hinata, the self-conscious white eyed heir to the Hyuuga clan.

On other side was team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi, but they were missing one member as well, one she knew all too well. Uzumaki Naruto, a loudmouth prankster who vowed to become Hokage.

Both teams looked disheartened and she could not blame them at all. Losing one of their own was the worst blow any team could take. _No,_ she thought to herself; closing her eyes, _they are not gone yet. We'll find them._

Behind Team 7, guarded by two ANBU, were two of the Kumo Ninja Kakashi and Kurenai captured, the only bright side to the whole ordeal. In front of her, she had their papers detailing each ninja. The only one missing was the teenager.

"Minariko, 35, an elite jonin that worked in special operations of the Hidden Cloud Village. Inazuma, 38, another elite jonin who worked along side the old Raikage until he was replaced by the current one." The respective ninja stared wide eyed at the amount of information Tsunade had on them. If this were any other day, the only female member of the Sannin would have found their reactions funny.

"Hatsu, 18, a recently promoted jonin. Highly dangerous. Noted to be reckless on missions." Tsunade tossed aside the teenager's paperwork and picked up the letter from the leader of the village. "All three of you left Hidden Cloud due to the new Raikage's appointment. Like the last Raikage before him after the failed kidnapping, this one decided to forget about retrieving the bloodline trait of the Hyuuga clan and keep to the agreement made in the aftermath."

Tsunade glared at the captive Shinobi. "However, you decided to get it anyway and, as a result, your leader tried to have you arrested. You fought your way out, that young jonin of yours caused quite a mess in the progress, and came out to Konoha."

Minariko glared at her. "So you know all of this?"

"The Raikage felt your obsession demanded a warning for me. I, in turn, warned the head of Hyuuga." Tsunade sighed and placed her hand on her head. "However, since I just got the letter this morning, Hiashi clearly wasn't able to warn Hinata before she left."

"What about Naruto and Hinata?" asked Shino, his expression unreadable in his sunglasses and high collared coat, but his voice filled with grief.

"We have ANBU searching the river at this moment," reported Kakashi, his voice weary. "It's getting late, through."

At that moment, Hiashi himself stormed into the office. Tsunade had not had the pleasure of meeting the clan leader herself; however, she had not heard too many good things about him. Yes, he was a good leader, but from what Kurenai had told her, Hinata had suffered greatly under him.

She had also been told things were improving, after her cousin, Neji, lost a fight to Naruto where all the frustration and anger at the main family the young prodigy of the branch family had was expressed to nearly everyone watching. However, Tsunade knew that even through things might get better, did not mean everything would be prefect now. After all, things take time to heal and the wounds of the Hyuuga have not had time to do so.

"Hokage-sama?" asked Hiashi and before she could respond. "Where is my daughter?"

"We don't know at this time. We last saw her swept away over a waterfall. We currently have teams searching now," reported Kurenai.

Haishi narrowed his eyes at Kurenai. "And where were you when she was kidnapped? We both know Hinata is not capable of even defending herself."

Shock rippled through the room. Even Minariko of the Cloud expressed interest in the scene before her while Inazuma just regarded the sight with mixed curiosity. Kiba and Shino regarded Hiashi with incensed glares, but both, shockingly in Kiba's case, held their tongues. Their teacher met Haishi's stare and retorted, "She did not report to training this morning. From what we learned, she was lured to the Cloud Ninja."

"And how was she lured?" he demanded.

Kurenai appeared very reluctant to answer, something Tsunade found strange. However, Sasuke responded instead, causing Kurenai to squirm, "Naruto was kidnapped the night before and a Cloud Ninja impersonated him to lure Hinata away."

Hiashi blinked. "That…boy? Why was that boy used to lure my daughter into a trap?"

Sasuke shrugged, not knowing the answer. Haishi looked toward Hinata's teacher, who appeared very stony. "Well? Is anyone going to answer?"

Tsunade found this to be a very intriguing scene. Clearly, Kurenai knew something about this, but did not want to answer. Kakashi had the look in the eye that said he knew Kurenai knew something, but felt it was an answer that could wait. None of the genin appeared to know at all from their confused looks. She would bet the Cloud Ninja knew since they used Naruto in the first place, but they stayed silent as well.

"Well?" commanded Hiashi. Silence answered him, which only served to further infuriate him even more.

"Don't you know?" asked Minariko, breaking her silence. Everyone in the room turned to the prisoners. From her earlier reaction, Tsunade figured Kurenai was sending death glares at Minariko. "The girl likes that boy. In love with him. Why do you think she blushes and faints when she gets near him?"

Kurenai's shoulders slumped while Kiba's jaw dropped. Kakashi stiffened in surprise while Sasuke's face became shocked. Sakura looked astonished, but she stared at the ground looking thoughtful. Even Tsunade did not expect something like that.

Hiashi appeared to shake with rage. "She…what?"

Minariko rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, boy. Does such a concept really bother you? You think your daughter is weak. You don't like her liking this boy, which I can guess why, too. You're just like all clan leaders."

Haishi blinked at the words. "And what do you mean by that?" he asked.

_I really should stop her_, thought Tsunade, but did not. Talking against the clan heads was generally a very bad taboo and Tsunade, through outspoken, did not want to test her authority just yet. Minariko was a prisoner who would be sent back to Cloud. Hiashi had no way to deal with her.

"Let me guess, your daughter doesn't perform the way you expect her to and you berate her and generally crush her confidence." She shook her head back and forth in a mocking gesture. "I've seen your kind. You blame your child heir for their lack of excellence instead of prizing them for what they are. You are your child's weakness. Your inability to accept her and boost her confidence has made her weak, not anything she had done."

Tsunade was enjoying the scene. The genin were gawking. Kurenai stared at Minariko with a mixture of shock and appreciation. Kakashi had taken out his book to read. Hiashi…Hiashi was at a complete loss as to what to do.

"Most children with fathers like you do one of three things, run away, kill themselves or…well, I won't tell you that one. You might have a heart attack if I did."

_Okay, now I'll put an end to it._ "That's it. Guards. Keep the prisoner quiet." She placed her hand on her head, closed her eyes and sighed. "Hyuuga-sama, we have ninja looking for your daughter right now. They are combing the riverside even as we speak."

Sakura had her hands folded in front her of chest, her eyes mournful. "But what if they're…" she trailed off; unable to finish what Tsunade knew she wanted to asked. _What if they're dead?_

"We don't know that for sure. Let's think positively." She smirked, surprising all in the room, except Hiashi, who continued to stare at the Minariko. "After all, Naruto told me he wasn't going to die until he became Hokage. If he breaks his promise now…well, I'll kick his dead body from here to the Land of Waves! As for Hinata, if Naruto's alive, he won't let her die. I know that for sure. He's not one to let his comrades die on him."

The atmosphere in the room lightened considerable. Sasuke adopted his usual smirk. Sakura's smile was back. Kiba grinned, baring his fanglike teeth. Shino and Kakashi, through most of their faces were covered, appeared much happier and a small smile graced Kurenai's face.

Everyone knew Tsunade spoke the truth; Naruto was a stubborn one.

The doors to the office opened and a ninja burst in. "Hokage-sama! We have reports…We've found them!"

* * *

Well, I guess you know Minariko's pet peeve: overbearing fathers! :p Granted, I actually like Hiashi and I know he changed after the Chuunin exam. But he's worried about Hinata and the panic has manifested itself by falling back in his old mindset and lashing out. I actually think this is why I tried writing this in the first place. I wanted to write Hiashi reverting to his old habits and it turned into a NaruHina fic. How typical. XD

I'm horrible at measurements so I apologize if that half mile is too far out for Teams 7 and 8 to see Naruto and Hinata. Or too close for that matter. I couldn't think of another way to rephrase, but I suppose I made my point. They were too far to notice the others.

Will update with the final part next week...if I'm not being lazy or busy. ^^;;

Thanks for reading - NessaMoon


	3. Chapter 3

Well, this is it. This is the last part of my fic. I really hope everyone likes it. :)

Last time, Naruto and Hinata were last seen falling to their doom over a waterfall. All the teams gathered in Tsunade's office awaiting news when Hiashi storms in and lashes out at Kurenai over Hinata's disappearance. Then Minariko does her own lashing out at Hiashi of all people, which causes our favorite clan leader to be very, very quiet. Finally, someone's found? Naruto and Hinata, perhaps? Let's see what happens, after all, Hatsu is still out there...somewhere.

**Title:** Do You Hate Me?  
**Genre:** Drama, Angst, AU  
**Timeline:** Post-Tsunade Arc  
**Summary:** When Hinata and Naruto are kidnapped by Cloud Ninja; certain secrets come out, causing both young ninja to think the worse of the other. Could Naruto really hate Hinata? Or could Hinata hate Naruto?  
**Pairings:** Naruto/Hinata  
**Rating:** G

* * *

Naruto had no idea how long he had been carrying Hinata on his back. When he had woken up on the riverbank, she had been lying next to him, unconscious. His body still felt sore, which he thought would be a given since he fell off a waterfall. At the time he woke up, the sun was going down and now, it was dark, the moon the only light around.

Through, since they were in a forest, that did not help much.

He also had no idea where he was at or what direction to go. He merely followed the river, hoping that would lead him to Konoha. Often he would hear sounds of people nearby and, thinking it was one of the Cloud Ninja, would hide. He could use his chakra finally; he had checked after he had awoken and the drug was finally gone, but with Hinata unconscious, he did not want to risk a fight. She could get hurt.

Other than that, Naruto's thoughts were occupied by Hinata. His worst fear was what Hinata thought of him now that she knew of the Kyuubi sealed within him. He had not seen hate in her eyes, but what was it then?

And then there was the fact that Hinata liked him. That actually surprised him. He was so used to people hating him (except Iruka-sensei, his former teacher, and the Third Hokage and now team seven) that he did not expect people to like him. And how was he supposed to know that all that fainting and blushing was because of him?

However, the girl he liked was Sakura, his teammate, but she was genuinely head over heels for Sasuke so he was attempting to step back, to not interfere, and finding someone else to like did not really appeal to him right now. Regardless, at the same time, he did not want to hurt Hinata, if she even liked him after finding out about the fox. All these thoughts were confusing him and he was not sure what to do.

"Hmmm…"

_Hinata's waking up_. This would probably be a good time to put her down and make sure she was not hurt. He stopped and gently laid her down against a tree, sitting down next to her. "Hinata?" he asked softly.

She slowly opened her eyes. When she caught glimpse of him, she gasped and jumped, turning her head away Naruto felt his heart plummet, thinking she hated him because of the fox sealed inside him. Then he heard her say softly, "Nar – uto-kun?" She began to tremble.

He was not sure what to do; however, he had to know what she thought of him. If she hated him. "Hinata?" he started, unsure where to begin. "Do you…" He trailed off, really not wanting to know if a person hated him, but his stubbornness got the better of him and he plowed on. "Do you…hate me?"

Hinata gasped as she turned back to him. Her shocked expression lit up her face. "Nnno! I would never hate you. Why would I?"

Naruto felt stunned. She did not hate him? "Well, I thought…you know about the fox inside of me. So I thought…"

"The Nine-Tails is really inside of you?" she asked. When he nodded slowly, her eyes filled with tears. "I – I didn't know. When that...that ninja said, I thought he was lying because I was always told the Fourth destroyed the fox, but you didn't act like he was. And…that's when everything made sense…"

Naruto blinked. Everything…made sense? "What do you mean, everything made sense?"

She nodded and began to play with her fingers, tapping them together as she normally did whenever he was nearby. "Well, I was always told never to go near you. All the kids were. And…and I've often overheard the villagers call you names like monster. It…it makes sense, right?"

Naruto did not say anything, images of his childhood flashing through his mind. Images of loneliness, crying, the name calling, things he had hoped would be behind him once he became a ninja and finally, Hokage.

"I'm sorry!" The outburst broke him out of his contemplation. He stared at Hinata, who now had her head down with tears running down her cheeks. "I – I wish…I wish I would have been brave enough…brave enough to talk to you sooner so – so you would not have – not have had such a terrible childhood because…because of that fox!"

"Hinata…" Naruto reached out and held her shoulder. He felt concerned for her blaming herself when she had no reason to, yet a part of him felt happy that she did not hate him and that she felt bad for what had happened to him.

Hinata knew what it felt like to be put down and was trying hard to change herself. She admired him for his strength to get back up when he failed, but yet, Naruto realized, she never knew the reason why he was this way to begin with, why he was put down and shunned, why he vowed to become Hokage and be greater than everyone.

Until now… She might not know what it was like to have a demon inside her body, but she understood people putting her down for reasons beyond her control.

Sympathy…that was what had been in her eyes. When he had opened his eyes and found her staring at him. She had felt sympathy for him.

"Hinata, don't worry about me. That's all behind me now." He put on his trademark grin as she turned to him. "Now I have my team and friends and the villagers respect me somewhat after my fight with Neji and Gaara. I have to think of the future, me becoming Hokage!"

She smiled slightly, but then her eyes dimmed once more and a frown replaced the smile. He was not sure what could be wrong now. But before he could even ask, a surprising question came from Hinata's mouth, "Do – do you hate me? Naruto-kun?"

Naruto felt stunned. What prompted her to ask that? Why would he hate her? He had no reason to. "What? Why would I hate you?"

She flinched at his shout and she started to tap her fingers again. "Well, ano…they…captured me."

"So?" For the life of Naruto, he could not figure out what was going on. "They captured me, too. There's nothing wrong with that. We're home; it's supposed to be safe. Do we have to be on our guard for every single moment of the day?" He nodded his head firmly as if what he said made some sense. "They drugged my ramen…" It then hit Naruto what the three Cloud Ninja did, which pushed everything else out of his mind. "They drugged my ramen!" he said enraged. "When I get my hands on them, I'll…"

"Ano…but…but I was being stupid. I – I thought you – you would be concerned for me and ta – take me to get something to eat…"

Hinata's words brought Naruto out of his rant. He asked how she had been captured and she told him how Hatsu had transformed into him, expressed concern over her red face and stutter and then asking her if she wanted something to eat.

"Why is that stupid?" asked Naruto, genuinely confused over why this was upsetting Hinata so much.

However, his question only served to make her uncomfortable. She began to stutter, "We – well, you wou – would – n't do some – somethi – ng like that, n - not for me…"

Now that he had it spelled out for him, Naruto understood what was wrong. "But Hinata…" he exclaimed in surprise, "I've done that before!"

"But…"

"I was worried about you when you fought Neji…"

"But…"

"…and I often thought you were sick when I saw your face red. I know differently now and I thought you were weird, sorry about that, but still…"

"But…" Her face was turning red.

"…and you know what?" He grinned as the idea planted itself firmly in his mind, gave root and started to bloom. "After everything we've been through, I'm going to take you for ramen when this is all over!"

Her face had turned completely red now and now she only mumbled without saying really anything, her eyes displaying complete shock at everything Naruto said. However, then her eyes softened and, with tears beginning to fall, which confused him, she gave him a small smile. "Thank you…Naruto-kun."

Smiling back, he pushed aside his confusion. Hinata was happy now and that mattered more than anything else. He still had no idea what to do about her liking him in that way, but he knew he could not hurt her. Instead, he thought it over and decided that he would get to know her more than he already knew her.

_It wouldn't really hurt to get to know Hinata. Maybe I'll find that I do like her? She is nice. But at least then, maybe when I do realize it, I won't be hurting Hinata._

"Ano…Naruto-kun?" she asked, her smile giving away to concern as she wiped away her tears with her jacket sleeves. "What about the Cloud Ninja?"

That notion brought the blond back down to earth really quickly. The drugged ramen still bubbling in the back of his mind, as well as Hatsu's cruel taunting. He would like to completely crush Hatsu. However, he had no idea if he and the other Kumo Shinobi had been captured by Kakashi and Kurenai or if they still ran around looking for the two of them.

Then an idea came to him. "Hey, Hinata?"

------------

"It's the village!" screamed Naruto, grinning broadly. Behind him, Hinata giggled. He took her hand and began to pull her out of the woods. They left the trees and entered the moonlight. Finally, he felt the whole ordeal would be over.

But he was wrong.

Hinata gasped as Hatsu jumped in front of him. The darkness caused his dangerous eyes to shine and his scar looked more menacing than usual. Even with the shadows hiding his face, Naruto could tell he was angry.

"No more games," growled Hatsu. "I don't care what some rogue ninja will think of a beaten up Junchuuriki or what Minariko or Inazuma will think of a battered Byakugan heir, but that's what both of you will be when I get through with you."

"Do - don't call…him that!" shouted Hinata, shakily, after Naruto flinched slightly at the word. "He - 's name is…Uzumaki…Naruto!"

"I don't care," sneered Hatsu. "It's not going to help him when I beat him to a pulp!"

Naruto gave the kidnapper his best glare as he made the hand sign for his clone jutsu. "You can try," he retorted, "but I'll just give it back to you in spades! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Smoke appeared and when it cleared, around 30 shadow clones surrounded the blond and dark black-blue haired ninja. All but one pulled out kunai. "Hinata, stay here," ordered Naruto. "Three of my clones will protect you."

She nodded as two clones stood on both sides of her and the kunai-free clone stood in front.

Hatsu hardly appeared impressed. "Kage Bunshins, eh? Extraordinary, I guess. Now I'll show you the jutsu that caused such a mess back in Hidden Cloud." The teenager went through a series of hand signs. Yellow chakra began to form on his hands, much like Sasuke's Chidori, but it looked different. When he finished, the yellow chakra was not in his hand, but on both of his fists. "Lighting fists!"

_Looks like I'll need the Rasengan…_ thought Naruto as he and his clones began to run toward the ninja.

Being on the frontline, Naruto launched himself at Hatsu before any of his clones could. The scarred ninja hit the blond right in the chest, the pain vibrating throughout his body. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, grunting in pain as Hatsu looked on with malice on his face.

_Yeah, I'll definitely need the Rasengan…_

------------

Tsunade, Hiashi and Teams 7 and 8 ran toward the location where Hinata and Naruto had been spotted. According to the reports, Naruto had engaged in battle with the last Cloud Ninja, seemingly holding his own.

Sure enough, when they reached a distance where they could see the battle, Naruto had held back and was using a clone to form the Rasengan while the rest of his clones fought Hatsu. Hinata was surrounded by three clones, watching the conflict play out.

Three clones disappeared in a puff of smoke as they came in contact with the yellow chakra encased fists of Hatsu. Tsunade had read the report on him; Hatsu had processed a great deal of talent when he passed his jonin exam, the creation of the Lighting Fist being the highlight of his passing.

The jutsu reminded Tsunade of the Rasengan; the technique required a great deal of Chakra control, but not enough to equal the jutsu of the Fourth's. According to the reports, Hatsu formed the Chakra on his fists and made it vibrate, making it appear lighting-like. Despite its name, the jutsu did not employ any element. Cloud had ranked the jutsu B.

Naruto ran forward, all his clones battling Hatsu gone and his Rasengan in his hand. Hatsu met the blue globe of chakra with his yellow fists, the reaction creating a brilliant light that lit up the night. Tsunade and the others put up their hands to block it.

"Oh, no! Naruto!" Tsunade put down her hands at Sakura's yell. Naruto was on the ground, the shock throwing him back. He started to get up, through, appearing to be all right. Hatsu had been thrown back and he got up as well. And laughed.

"So is that all you got?" he asked, but his deep breathing suggested he was at his limit. "Let's see how you take this!" Hatsu began to run toward Naruto, but he jumped up and waved the clones guarding Hinata forward. All four of them ran at Hatsu, with one of them lingering behind. Tsunade could not figure out why that was.

"Ha!" screamed Hatsu and hit two of the clones, disappearing on impact. Naruto punched the Cloud ninja in the face, propelling himself over his enemy, and the Naruto clone lagging behind flatted his hand in a peculiar stance and struck Hatsu right in the middle of his chest.

The Cloud Ninja faltered, his eyes wide in confusion. Naruto grinned as he landed on the ground. Tsunade and the others ran up to the battle. As they did so, Hatsu fell to the ground, unconscious. The Naruto clone stepped back, staring uncertainly at the prone body of the kidnapper.

Hiashi glared at the clone and then at his daughter who ran up to them. "You taught this boy Juuken?" he asked angrily.

Kurenai nodded, looking between the Naruto clone and Hinata. "That's right, that was a Juuken stance and move, but even if he was taught it, how did he know where to aim?"

Naruto grinned across to Hinata, who did the strangest thing. She grinned back, but not just any grin, but one with a wide tooth baring smile and eyes closed. A Naruto smile.

She formed a hand sign and when the smoke cleared, Hinata had disappeared and in her place was…Naruto!

As everyone stood wide eyed, that Naruto disappeared in smoke. And the Naruto who had preformed the Juuken move made a hand sign and became a meek, finger tapping Hinata.

"See," began the real Naruto, still grinning broadly with his hands behind his head, "we thought she might have a better chance of hitting him if she appeared as me. It would throw him off guard if he thought she was being protected. So when I made my clones, she transformed into me and one of my clones into her before the smoke cleared. I fought him to make sure he got used to my style and to make sure he wouldn't harm Hinata in the process...those fists of his definitely hurt."

He rubbed his stomach where he must have been hit by Hatsu. "So…" started Sakura, glancing questioningly between the two, "the Naruto clone lagging behind was just Hinata getting in position to perform her Juuken move?"

Hinata nodded, blushing greatly and tapping her fingers together. "Yes," she muttered. "That's correct."

Kakashi gave a one-eyed smile as he gazed at his student with approval. "Interesting plan, Naruto. You certainly put Hinata's skills to good use."

Sasuke appeared uninterested, which went ignored for once by Naruto. Everyone else watched Hiashi, who was staring at his daughter with an unreadable expression. Finally, a warm smile appeared and he nodded, to the astonishment of the girl. "You did well."

"In any case," began Tsunade, smirking at the scene between father and daughter, "now that this is over, let's make sure these two aren't hurt and take this Hatsu in to join his friends."

Naruto shouted in glee to which Sasuke muttered, calling him an idiot, which resulted in Naruto retorting back, which resulted in Sakura yelling at Naruto while Kakashi took out of his book to read and everyone in the general area appeared embarrassingly perplexed, except Hinata who giggled silently.

In Tsunade's eyes, it was the same Team 7, back together and nothing could have been better.

------------

The day after her kidnapping found Hinata sitting in the swing next to the Ninja Academy once again. There were differences between now and when she last sat in the swing. Yesterday, she had been kidnapped while waiting for Naruto, like she normally did, but she always hid. Yesterday, a Cloud Ninja impersonating Naruto led her away, capturing her. Today, she was waiting for Naruto, but not like usually. This time, they were going to eat at his favorite ramen bar, Ichiraku. Together. She would not be hiding behind a tree this time.

Her cheeks colored at bit, remembering his vow to take her for ramen after their ordeal ended. It had been one of the best moments of her life after experiencing one of the worst. She had not been stupid in thinking that Naruto would be concerned for her or take her for some ramen. She had not been stupid at all.

_I knew there was a reason I love Naruto-kun…_, she thought as the wind blew in her hair, _he's such a kind person and he knows exactly how to raise people's spirits, especially mine, even when he doesn't know it. He's confident and has a dream and nearly nothing gets him down and funny and…_

"Hinata!"

She jumped up out of the swing as Naruto came toward her. She straightened her white jacket and smiled. "Hhhi, Narrruto-kun!"

He grinned back. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Yes." _I've always been ready_, she added in her head. _I just needed to find the courage._

"Then let's go." And, just like with Hatsu, Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the village.

Only this time…it was real.

------------

As Naruto and Hinata met to eat ramen, Tsunade, along with Teams 7 and 8, sat in her office, as they had been called there by Hyuuga Hiashi. The Fifth Hokage did not have any idea what he wanted, but she had a theory.

A ninja opened the door and announced Hiashi. The imposing clan leader entered, but his head was down, his face downcast. The two teams stood up, Kurenai barely betraying any emotion. No doubt what happened the night before was still fresh on her mind.

Hiashi appeared to struggle with whatever he had in mind because his closed eyes quivered. Finally, he raised his head and opened his eyes. "I…I wish to apologize…for my actions last night."

The shock in the room was paramount. Kurenai's stony face gave way to stun disbelief. Sakura, the only genin in the room who did not belong to a clan, gasped. The rest of the boys (and perhaps Shino did as well) blinked in surprise, no doubt because they never expected a clan leader to actually admit to a mistake. Kakashi merely gazed at Hiashi in mild incredulity.

Tsunade, even through she thought this was coming, was surprised. She figured a part of her never really anticipated Hiashi to admit what he did the night before was wrong.

Hiashi turned away, facing the doors, and Tsunade thought he was going to leave, but no, he began to speak again, "I have been trying to accept Hinata as she is. I really have, but it has been hard. In the past as you all know, I've dismissed her because I thought she was weak and I've tried to move past that, that she's not weak, but…" He trailed off and sighed.

"Things take time to heal," said Tsunade, voicing her thoughts from the night before, "and these wounds have not had time, correct?"

Hiashi nodded. "Yes. And when I found out Hinata had been kidnapped…I lost it. Everything I've tried to accept went out the window and I reverted to my old ways, thinking she was weak. It wasn't until that Cloud woman spoke up that I realized what I had done."

"You were emotional," commented Kakashi. "There are times when emotional people don't often think on what they are doing."

Hiashi turned to him. "Yes. And I hope I can be forgiven for that." He turned to Kurenai, whose face had become stony again. "I apologize for blaming you. And for accusing Hinata as being weak. She isn't and it is likely because of your teaching that she is becoming strong."

The female jonin appeared stunned, but then she sighed and smiled. "Perhaps, but also…Naruto." Hiashi twitched at the mention of the blond. "She has not realized that I know of her crush and that is why I did not say anything last night," continued Kurenai. "Hinata loves Naruto because of his energetic attitude and his unwaveringly belief that he will become Hokage. It inspires her. It inspires her to do better."

Hiashi looked down at the floor at her response. "So that is why. I did not ask her about it last night. I felt like I had made enough of a fool of myself that I should not add to it."

Kurenai said nothing at that, but a few seconds later, she spoke, "I accept your apology, everyone makes mistakes, especially those who are trying to keep from repeating them."

The others nodded and muttered their acceptance of the apology as well. Hiashi still appeared uncomfortable as he bowed. "I must take my leave now. I have business with the rest of the Hyuuga clan." He left right then, Kurenai watching him leave with a wondering glance. The genin relaxed, no longer needing to watch their actions in the presence of a clan leader.

"So Naruto inspires Hinata," pondered Sakura. "Who would have thought that? I knew she watched him a lot, but never knew the reason."

"Humph," muttered Kiba as Akamaru barked from the top of his head. "I can't believe she even likes him! I don't get it."

"Naruto has a gift," said Tsunade who knew from experience, "for inspiring and changing people. I'm proof of that."

"As are Hyuuga Neji and Gaara," pointed out Shino.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Naruto has something, I guess. I suppose something has to make up for his loud mouth."

Sakura giggled at the remark as Kakashi brought out his book again and motioned his team out. "But that's Naruto for you," said Kakashi as he began to walk. "The number one ninja at surprising people, that's Uzumaki Naruto."

"There's one thing I want to ask…" commented Sakura at the door. "Why was Hyuuga-sama so angry last night when he found out Hinata liked Naruto? I mean, I know Naruto's loud and a prankster, but did that call for such a reaction?"

"Yes…and that Cloud Shinobi said she knew the reason why he didn't like Hinata liking Naruto, too," pointed out Shino.

Kiba and Akamaru exchanged glances, at least, that was what it looked like to Tsunade. "So there's something about Naruto, something we don't know and Hyuuga-sama does, that makes Naruto somehow unfit for Hinata?"

Sasuke turned to the adults in the room, all of which wore careful masks to hide their nervousness at the questions concerning Naruto and the Kyuubi. "Well?" said Sasuke, pointedly glaring at each adult. "What is it about Naruto that Hyuuga-sama doesn't like?"

Tsunade had no idea what to tell them. The law in place prevented the older generation from telling the genin, through she thought that they should know since they were Naruto's friends, but really such a decision should be up to him. However, Kakashi saved her from answering. "I wouldn't say Naruto is unfit to be liked by Hinata," he said. "As you all know, Naruto wasn't well liked as a child. As Hyuuga-sama said, he reverted to his old ways and I believe that included regarding Naruto as he did when the boy was growing up."

Sakura blinked, somewhat surprised at the response. "This has something to do with Naruto's childhood? How people treated him then?"

"And you're not going to tell us what it is, are you?" asked Shino.

"No." Kakashi flipped a page in his book, having started to read it again. "That is something Naruto must tell you, but only when he's ready. He shouldn't be forced to tell people."

Sasuke frowned, his eyes unfocused as if lost in thought. "So Naruto knows why he was treated so badly as a child?"

The teachers and Hokage nodded to which all the genin groaned. "We'll never find out why then," moaned Kiba. "He'll never tell us."

However, once again, Kakashi motioned his team out the door. "I have a feeling Naruto will tell you," he said cheerfully, "but it has to be at his own pace. He is likely still recovering from that childhood, getting used to the fact that he has friends, but not all wounds heal, as you have just seen."

"Yes," said Kurenai. "Give Naruto time to realize that he can tell people this secret. That when he does, people won't revert back into the way he was treated in the past. When he realizes this, he will tell you."

At that thought, the faces on the genin became somber and they nodded in agreement. Sakura and Sasuke walked out of the door with Kakashi following, his one exposed eye shining in approval at his students.

Kurenai smiled at her team as she, too, lead her team out of the office. Tsunade sat behind her desk for a few seconds, and then she got up and headed to the prison where the Cloud Ninja were being held until members of Hidden Cloud arrived to pick them up.

She approached the cell where Minariko was bound, her arms chained up on the wall so she could not perform any jutsu to escape. Tsunade could hear the Hatsu boy screaming from his cell further down. He must have just woken up.

Minariko looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What brings Konoha's Hokage to visit?"

"I wanted to ask you, you said child heirs with overbearing fathers did one of three things, what was the third one you wouldn't tell Hiashi?"

To her surprise, the kidnapper laughed. "They change the clans when they become the leader, through often the other family members, mostly the older ones, tend to oppose it and a fight breaks out. However, in Cloud, the new Raikage has reformed the entire clan structure for the village, one of the changes I actually approve. How long it'll last, I do not know, but you see, he was friends with and then married a once disowned clan heir. And he's the strongest of all our Shinobi so…"

She smirked. For some reason, Naruto came to Tsunade's mind. She had heard he planned to change Hyuuga when he became Hokage. Something that came out of his match with Neji.

"I have a feeling," said Tsunade with pride, "that Konoha will follow."

------------

Naruto had already gone through two bowls of miso ramen and was just starting on his third. Hinata had not even gotten done with her first and was only halfway though it. She had had the funniest face when he ordered his third bowl, almost in awe of him.

But he was enjoying himself. He thought he should invite Hinata for ramen more often. It would be a good way to get to know her more, however he had to think of other ways, too, maybe training together or something else. As much as he loved ramen, there was only so many ways a person to get to know another while eating.

"What do you think, young lady?" asked Teuchi, grinning at Hinata.

As he watched Hinata respond, Naruto realized he found something of her that he liked.

_Her smile…I really like Hinata's smile…_

The End

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And that's you so much for reading. I'm very glad this wasn't as bad as I had feared. I hope no one minds the jutsu I created, I wanted it to be simple and not very complicated. I'm also horrible with Japanese, I'm fine with names, but I wasn't going to try to come up with a name of a jutsu. This is likely the only action piece I'll do. I still haven't gotten that type of writing down yet. I need to find time to work on it. So much to do...

In the years I've had this fic sitting on my hard drive, I haven't once come up with a sequel to it so I doubt there will be one. Sorry! But I think this is a good place to end it at, with Naruto starting to find his own reasons to like Hinata. I think we all know where this'll lead! XD

If I don't get around to working on my current fic this month, I do have something planned to post next month. It's kind of going to be a drabble collection, it'll be where I post fics that are lower than 4,000 words (I have such high standards!). However, I just may post it regardless of my progress on my current fic.

Thanks for reading - NessaMoon


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